ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The City of Englewood will soon begin the process to find a new City Manager. Current City Manager Eric Keck announced his resignation at the city council meeting on Tuesday night. The city is also working to fill the Deputy City Manager position.
"Things are starting to come to light, rats are trying to leave the ship,” said JJ Margiotta, Englewood resident and business owner.
Margiotta said Keck’s resignation is one he and other community members have asked and waited for.
“At this point in time what I want to say to the city council is that I am going to be tendering my resignation this evening,” said Keck at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
Keck's 30-day notice comes after Englewood's Deputy City Manager also resigned. Now, residents like Margiotta are asking who will fill the seats and lead the city.
"If we continue to find the corruption that had been going on from past administrations and continue to hide those problems it will only make it worse for the future generations,” said Margiotta.
Keck talked about some of the problems he sees facing the city in his resignation speech.
“You have to look at resourcing your community for the resources that are necessary, to fix not only storm drains but water systems and our utilities,” said Keck. “We are a big city, we need to act like a big city. Not do things on the cheap. We need to invest and I would hope that you would continue with obviously public safety as a concern but also the condition of our infrastructure.”
As for who will fill the vacant seats ahead, the City of Englewood sent Denver7 a statement saying the selection process will be up to city council to decide:
The Charter leaves the authority for the selection process to the City Council. The City Council has utilized various search methods in the past, and will determine which search method will be most appropriate for identifying the best replacement for Manager Keck at this time.
ARTICLE VII. - CITY MANAGER49: - Appointment; qualifications.
The Council shall appoint and fix the salary of the City Manager who shall be the chief executive officer and head of the administrative branch of the City Government. He shall be selected on the basis of administrative and executive qualifications. During his tenure of office, the City Manager shall reside within the City of Englewood. No Councilman shall be appointed City Manager during the term for which he shall have been elected.
Margiotta hopes those who are stepping down will leave more room for others to step up in Englewood.
“I think it’s going to be a rebirth,” said Margiotta. “We've got a very good group of people that I think can manage and help get the city back on track, but we have to get rid of the bad apples.”
